MASTERARBEIT / MASTER’S THESIS Titel der Masterarbeit / Title of the Master‘s Thesis “Bringing Back Bilateralism? An Analysis of the US-UK ‘Special Relationship’ in the 21st century” verfasst von / submitted by Ulrike Wabusseg, BA BA angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (MA) Wien, 2018 / Vienna, 2018 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 066 824 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / MA Politikwissenschaft degree programme as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heinz Gärtner Table of Contents I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4 II. What is the ‘special relationship’? ........................................................................................... 6 III. Theoretical background – bilateralism ................................................................................. 11 1. Multi – and bilateralism in the Theories of International Relations .......................................... 12 2. The phenomenon of multilateralism .......................................................................................... 14 2.1. Multilateralism and multilateral organisations .................................................................. 16 2.1.1. Ideal types of multilateral organisations - collective security systems ...................... 17 2.1.2. NATO as a ‘truncated’ ideal type? ............................................................................ 18 2.2. The EU as a multilateral organisation?.............................................................................. 19 2.2.1. The UK and the EU – ‘awkward’ partners? .............................................................. 20 2.2.2. Under the banner of multilateralism? – The USA’s promotion of European integration .................................................................................................................................. 22 3. Bilateralism ............................................................................................................................... 23 3.1. Nazi Germany’s approach to international trade – exemplified bilateralism? .................. 23 3.2. Bilateralism and multilateralism – a difference in essence? .............................................. 24 3.3. Bilateralism in (multilateral) orders, regimes and organisations ....................................... 27 3.3.1. EU bilateralism and multilateralism .......................................................................... 27 3.3.2. Bilateralism and the ‘special relationship’ ................................................................ 28 IV. Methods .................................................................................................................................... 30 V. A ‘special relationship’ at the UN? ........................................................................................ 33 1. Voting cohesion in the UNGA - results of previous studies ..................................................... 35 2. Vetoes in the UN Security Council ........................................................................................... 36 3. US-UK voting cohesion in the General Assembly .................................................................... 38 3.1. Matters of multilateralism ................................................................................................. 39 3.2. Issues of arms control, (nuclear) disarmament etc. ........................................................... 42 4. Embedding the discussion into the broader one of multilateralism ........................................... 44 VI. The sphere of economics- a looming Brexit and ‘special’ relations .................................... 47 1. US bilateral trade treaties .......................................................................................................... 48 2. EU trade agreements ................................................................................................................. 49 3. ‘Deeply’ integrated – A survey of economic data ..................................................................... 50 3.1. Foreign direct investments ................................................................................................ 51 3.2. US service and merchandise exports ................................................................................. 51 2 3.3. US-UK bilateral trade flows .............................................................................................. 52 4. Towards a post-Brexit US-UK Free Trade Agreement? ........................................................... 53 5. A special economic relationship? .............................................................................................. 56 6. Channelling back to the theory – bilateralism and trade ........................................................... 56 VII. Defence Relations .................................................................................................................... 59 1. General Parameters .................................................................................................................... 60 2. The UK and the US’s involvement in UN Peacekeeping .......................................................... 61 3. NATO – peacekeeping and ‘collective defence’ between multi- and bilateralism ................... 64 4. Excursion: The EU, CSDP, PESCO and the UK ...................................................................... 66 5. UK military presence in the world ............................................................................................ 67 6. US military presence in the world ............................................................................................. 69 7. “I will be with you, whatever” – Iraq and the ‘special defence relationship’............................ 71 8. Military relations in terms of multilateralism and bilateralism ................................................. 75 VIII. The matter of intelligence cooperation .................................................................................. 77 1. Cooperation in a sensitive field ................................................................................................. 78 2. Structures of US-UK intelligence cooperation – a very special relationship? .......................... 79 2.1. Sharing of SIGINT and harmonisation .............................................................................. 80 2.2. New Challenges and Five Eyes ......................................................................................... 82 3. US-UK intelligence cooperation in terms of multilateralism and bilateralism ......................... 83 IX. State visits and official visits ................................................................................................... 86 1. Important distinctions, practices and protocol ........................................................................... 86 2. Costs and limitations ................................................................................................................. 89 3. Purposes and possible effects of state and official visits ........................................................... 90 4. Visiting friends? – Categorising US-UK official visits ............................................................. 92 5. The statistics of UK-US official visits since 2000 in terms of bilateralism and multilateralism ..... 94 X. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 98 XI. References .............................................................................................................................. 101 XII. Index of graphs and tables .................................................................................................... 109 XIII. Absract/ Kurzbeschreibung ................................................................................................. 110 3 I. Introduction The theoretical concept of bilateralism can be said to be quite understudied. Particularly since the fall of the Iron Curtain, multilateralism seems to have been the dominating organising form of the international system and bilateralism has therefore been rather neglected by scholars of International Relations (IR). However, due to an increase in multilateralism and its growing complexity, bilateralism has become a considerable alternative in our complex globalised world in recent years (Heydon & Woolcock 2009: 9; Renard 2016: 18-19). On the 23rd of June 2016, a slight majority of voters in the United Kingdom (51.9 percent (Electoral Commission 2016)) opted in a referendum about the country’s membership of the European Union (EU) against a continued remaining inside the union and for a so-called and often stylised ‘Brexit’. Subsequently, the government of the United Kingdom formally triggered Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union (TEU) in March 2017, which addresses the possibility of such a withdrawal from the EU. About six months after the Brexit vote, the outspoken EU-sceptic and critic of multilateral organisations and arrangements, Donald Trump, won the presidential elections on the 8th of November 2016, in the